Green ratings are going against the grain

By Philip Hopkins

AUSTRALIA'S peak forestry body has accused the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA)of discriminating against native forest timber in its system of green rating for commercial buildings.

The president of the National Association of Forest Industries, Douglas Head, said the council's Green Star rating tool only recognised recycled timber or timber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). NAFI is a GBCA board member.

"There was no recognition of timber certified under Australia's only national forest certification standard, the Australian Forestry Standard (AFS)," he said.

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Dr Head said 95 per cent of Australia's forests were certified AFS, as well as privately owned plantation and native forests. FSC was limited to mainly plantations, much of which was used only for woodchips.

"There are very limited supplies of FSC-certified timber from Australians forests which is suitable for use in construction and high-grade timber feature applications," he said. Consequently the timber had to be imported.

Dr Head said AFS had gained full recognition from Standards Australia after a three-year review, with changes made from the 2003 interim standard.

It also had full international recognition under the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), Dr Head said.

PEFC and AFS were accepted in the government procurement policies of Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Belgium and the European Union.

GBCA chief executive Romilly Madew said the council was responding to the timber industry's concerns. It had instigated a process to review all timber certification schemes for Green Star assessment.

"A draft of the proposed timber credit will be released to key stakeholders for review and comment shortly," she said. "The final timber credit will be released for public comment following the feedback."

Ms Madew said Standards Australia made assessments using different criteria. "I can't tell you what Standards Australia assessed off," she said. "We have alway been very clear about certain positions."

Ms Madew said Green Star was a voluntary tool. "It is not mandatory. You can still get Green Star and still use Victorian (native) timber," she said.

Both AFS and FSC assure consumers they are buying wood products from sustainably managed forests and plantations.

The PEFC has about 200 million hectares of forest certified in 20 countries. About 9 million hectares of Australian forests are now AFS-certified through government forestry operations in Victoria (VicForests), NSW, Tasmania, South Australia and Queensland. Companies certified include Hancock Victorian Plantations, which also has FSC certification, and Green Triangle Forest Products.

FSC, which is supported by green groups, has about 80 million hectares of forests certified globally and about 650,000 hectares in Australia. Business members include ITC, HVP, Australian Paper and Timbercorp.

Australian FSC chief executive Michael Spencer said there was strong and growing demand for FSC certified wood products due to customer concern about the state of the world's forests.

"The Green Star system is encouraging the Australian industry to respond to these market challenges," he said.

This was recognised at the Industry Capability Network awards, won by Victorian company Laminex. "Laminex worked with companies such as Alpine MDF and a veneer mill up on the Murray River to produce what I believe will be a fantastic product," he said.

The outgoing chief executive of the Victorian Association of Forest Industries, Trish Caswell, said it was a proxy debate from environmental groups who want to stop forestry in Australia that doesn't have FSC certification.